'Sheep badger' loses grazing birthright

UPI News Service, 01/31/2009

An English "sheep badger" has been deprived of his birthright of grazing his flock in his village for using the sheep to scare his neighbors.

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Jeremy Awdry, 60, was spared prison Friday by a judge who imposed a 16-week sentence and then suspended it, The Daily Telegraph reported. But the judge imposed a curfew from 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. for two months and took away Awdry's grazing privileges.

Awdry, like others born in the Forest of Dean and known as "sheep badgers," had the privilege of grazing anywhere in the forest. Judge William Hart said that no longer applies within the village of Bream.

Awbry admitted five violations of an anti-social behavior order or ASBO imposed after neighbors complained he had used his sheep to intimidate those who angered him.

"There were situations where sheep were driven and put in places where they would cause trouble for people," said Brendon Moorhouse, the prosecutor. "Sheep were found lying outside houses dead with their name written in red on them. These sort of matters led to the ASBO being made."